The Diplomacy of Bullying, Booze & Boorish Blueblood Behavior: Reported Devilwoman Ambassador & Obama Pal Cynthia Stroum Resigns in Disgrace.

Earlier this week, she quit the gig that Obama selected especially for her, just days before a scathing internal State Department report was released concerning her so-called "performance" on the cushy job of being Obama's ambassador to the quaint little European nation of Luxembourg.

Her name is Cynthia Stroum, and she was a significant and official pal, fundraiser and contributor to Obama long before the State Department ever blasted her embassy management skills as "abysmal" and a "disaster" (link to full story at bottom).

The report from the State Department's inspector general paints the picture of a nightmare of an ambassador -- a regular dragonlady, you might say -- who spent her tenure in Luxembourg verbally abusing underlings, worrying mostly about the perks of the job, and spending inordinate amounts of taxpayer money on booze. More on all of that later. But first:

The Rise

You might ask, how could such a person ever ascend to an ambassadorship in the first place? Well, as the linked AP story puts it, "Stroum's major qualification for the post appeared to be her generous contributions to Democratic politicians and causes, particularly Obama's campaign."

This included "Stroum donating the maximum personal amount to Obama's campaign" and being "responsible for ginning up at least $500,000 for Obama, putting her near the top of the campaign's money generators."

I think they have a phrase for this in the American mafia: "If you earn, you rise." And rise she did. Though she had no prior diplomatic experience, Obama in 2009 named Stroum ambassador to Luxembourg – "a tiny nation of 500,000 people about the size of Rhode Island and surrounded by France, Belgium and Germany" (final picture above). Put another way: A dream gig.

The Lout

The State Department's report found that Stroum's "tenure was fraught with personality conflicts" and "verbal abuse," among other things. It charges Stroum with being responsible for a "corrosive atmosphere" involving "the ambassador running roughshod over staff [and] threatening to read their e-mails."

The State Department also found that most of the embassy's internal problems were linked directly to Stroum's "leadership deficiencies, the most damaging of which is an abusive management style." She would publicly criticize her colleagues and staffers, and those who dared to ever question any of Stroum's behavior "paid a heavy price in the form of verbal abuse and [being] threatened with dismissal."

Things got so bad that "the inspector general recommended that the State Department dispatch medical personnel to Luxembourg to test the stress levels of embassy employees." Incredibly, "at least four staffers quit or sought transfers to Iraq and Afghanistan"! How bad must it have been to work under this "lady" if staffers felt compelled to seek transfers to dangerous hellholes such as Afghanistan and Iraq? Good grief.

The Booze

The State Department's report also detailed various "questionable expenditures" by ambassador Stroum on such things as "travel, wine and liquor." For example, the report revealed that her embassy "purchased $3,400 in wine and liquor a day before the 2010 budget year ended in an effort to spend as much of its annual entertainment funds as possible."

In other words, there were thousands and thousands of dollars in the embassy’s annual "entertainment" budget, and Stroum was determined to spend every single penny of that budget, damn it – even if it meant making arbitrary and unnecessary booze purchases simply for the sake of spending the entire budget. That's just sick. Deplorable. Disgraceful. Deranged.

The Perks

Stroum, a highly wealthy Seattle blueblood, really loved her perks of the job as well! In fact, they were her main focus. The report finds that Stroum was "largely concerned about job-related perks" – an emphasis that reared its ugly head almost from day one: Shortly after she arrived in Luxembourg in 2009, Stroum made a point to discuss with the embassy's staffers "the importance she attaches to the perquisites of being an ambassador."

As an example, the report finds that Stroum was "particularly concerned about the state of the ambassador's residence, which was being renovated." During the renovation, Stroum needed temporary housing. A simple matter, right? WRONG!

Stroum had an embassy official spend "six weeks searching for an appropriate property and, using contacts in Luxembourg, Belgium, Germany and France along with two offices from the U.S. Embassy in Brussels, screened 200 properties and visited 30 to 40”!

But alas, all of this manpower and manhours only resulted in the embassy finding four properties "that met the ambassador's requirements." And a big surprise here: When staffers ran the four properties by Stroum, she rejected every single one of them! Somehow, eventually, an "appropriate residence" was found for Stroum, the report says. Against all odds, apparently.

I'm sure that to Stroum, the "appropriate residence" needed to be one "fit for a queen," as that's very clearly how this out-of-touch aristocrat viewed herself. To wit: Her Highness even applied her regal self-image to her royal bedroom furniture, obtaining reimbursement "for the purchase of a new bed because she preferred a queen bed" (what else?) to the bed already provided. (The report says that this nonsensical "queen bed" reimbursement needs to be repaid by Stroum, BTW.)

The Fall

Finally, while it's obvious that Her Majesty quit the ambassadorship because the State Department's blistering report was about to be publicly released, Stroum admits no fault and actually claimed to the Luxembourg press that "she was leaving the job because she wanted to return to private life" and "focus on my family and personal business."

Even the State Department joined in on that line of bull$hit, stating: "We are grateful for her service to the United States and wish her all the best in her new endeavors."

Meantime, Stroum has run for the hills just as fast as her blueblooded hooves would allow. She's not returning calls from the media, and she's having others say that she's "unavailable" in response to any and all media inquiries.

Of course, it says very little for Obama's better judgment that he would select such a bad-mouthing, booze-ordering beast of a verbal bully like Stroum to serve in an ambassadorship in the first place. The buck stops at the top, and I hold him just as accountable for this complete embarrassment as that narcissistic, primpin' prima donna herself.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5icvkPhBDrb3c8ySkXkQURKNJ9sSw?docId=306882dbed82458e8897d5afef59d730

No Need For a Wire: Apparently Down to His Last Bar, Burglary Suspect Allegedly Charges His Cell Phone at Crime Scene, Then Forgets It There!

Apparently this dude's never seen HBO's "The Wire," or else he would know that cell phones and crime do not mix. For example, if you try to charge your cell phone at the scene of a crime, you might always forget to scoop it up before making your getaway. And that's exactly what cops in Maryland say happened to 26-year-old Cody Wilkins (pictured on the left), who now stands charged in 10 home burglaries involving jewelry thefts (link below).

Following a snowstorm, more than 200,000 Montgomery County, Maryland residents had been without power recently, and cops say Wilkins was among them. Thus, "he needed a place – anyplace, it seems – to charge his phone." And what better place that in someone else's home during a burglary!

I'm trying to understand Wilkins' thought process here (allegedly): OK, I got two things I need to accomplish today:
(1) Pull another jewelry heist; and (2) Find someplace to charge up this damn cell phone. Wait! I can multitask! Kill two birds with one stone! If I can just find a home with power, I can knock the joint over and get a good charge into my phone!

But so much for the best laid plans of mice and men. Cops say Wilkins found a home with power, entered through a rear window and started "rifling through the rooms." But that's when the owner's son showed up!

Cops say that hearing the son's entry downstairs frightened Wilkins, who allegedly jumped out a window and ran away. When the cops arrived, they found "a cell phone, charging in an electric socket, that didn't belong to the homeowner." Two words:
BUS-TED! [BTW, no word yet whether this multitasking marauder also had some supper going on the home's stove when he was forced to flee].

Cops quickly found out the identity of the phone's owner by pulling a little "ruse" in which they used the same cell phone and called a number that had been programmed into it. They told the woman who answered that the man to whom this cell phone belonged had been involved in an "incident" and they needed to know his name.

Turns out that the woman was Wilkins' girlfriend, and she quickly led cops straight to the phone-charging bandit (allegedly). When cops got to Wilkins' home, there was apparently no disruption in his water service, since they say he was in the $hithouse trying to flush jewelry down the toilet.

Cops have pinned 10 burglaries on Wilkins so far, and more are probably on the way: It seems that the area has suffered more than 40 similar jewelry heists since January 1, not to mention that Lindsay Lohan (who can't leave California) has an airtight alibi.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/02/AR2011020206010.html?hpid=sec-metro

"Lindsay Lohan Accused of Major Jewel Heist": What’s Next, Knocking Over a Gas Station or Maybe Pulling a Bank Job?

What gives? Is she destitute? Or just innocent? Lindsay Lohan stands accused by an L.A. jewelry store owner of swiping a "one-of-a-kind" necklace from the store (links at bottom).

The alleged jewel heist went down at the Kamofie & Company jewelry story in Venice, California, but it didn't exactly involve the Pink Panther diamond. Instead, the missing piece is a $2,500 "gold necklace with semiprecious stones." A full police investigation is underway, with Lohan’s handlers over the past day turning over a necklace to the cops.

A surveillance video reportedly shows Lohan inside the store "wearing the necklace just before it vanished," although not showing her actually leaving with it. It's also reported that the store owner gave cops a picture that shows Lohan wearing the necklace one week later.

Lohan is currently on probation for DUI since leaving the Betty Ford clinic in January, and I'd think that a nice little jewel heist (allegedly) would be quite the probation buster. It could also mean some hard time in the hoosegow. TMZ is reporting that a "source closely connected with the case says charges are 'likely'" – and they could be for grand theft and/or burglary.

But it all begs the questions of why she would lift a $2,500 necklace in the first place? Despite her drug problems, I've not heard of her being in bad financial straits. The linked Hollywood Gossip story predicted yesterday: "Knowing Lindsay . . . she'll claim she wore [the necklace] out of the story 'by accident.'"

Well, it turns out that wasn't too far off. The very latest in this story has TMZ further reporting Lohan's purported "side of the story" (last link at bottom). Lohan claims she merely "borrowed" the necklace, and she's trying to blame a stylist for "forgetting to return it on time."

That seems fairly flimsy to me, since if the necklace had been merely "loaned" to Lohan, then why is the owner of the store all gung-ho about prosecuting? If that's Lohan's story and she's sticking to it, methinks she better gear up to give her best acting performance to date in front of the judge (if the "likely" charges are filed, of course).

http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2011/02/lindsay-lohan-accused-in-major-jewel-heist-seriously/
http://www.tmz.com/2011/02/02/lindsay-lohan-jewelry-store-venice-california-ca-necklace-grand-theft-shoplifting-prosecution/
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/02/lindsay-lohan-necklace-theft-allegation-under-review-by-prosecutors.html
http://www.tmz.com/2011/02/02/lindsay-lohan-jewelry-grand-theft-jewelry-store-necklace-store-loan-stylist-search-warrant-lapd-cops-investigation/

A New Day & New Charlie Sheen Revelations: He Partied Like "Scarface" w/ Not One, Not Two, But Three Porn Babes Prior to Last Week's Hospitalization!

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Blizzard 2011 & An Inconvenient Truth: Midwest Hit with Worst Blizzard in Decades During the Worst Winter Most of Us Can Recall.

Sorry, Charlie Sheen, but this storm is big news today: Blizzard-like winds, bitter sub-zero wind chills, snow totals of 1-2 feet (oftentimes with a nice sheet of ice underneath), and whiteout conditions are greeting Missouri, Kansas, Illinois and huge swaths of the Midwest today in perhaps the worst one-day snow storm since the pre-World War I days of the early Twentieth Century (links at bottom; images above from the Kansas City Star and Weather.com). And the Northeast is next up in this storm's crosshairs (apologies to CNN and the American left).

Virtually unprecedented things are occurring with this storm. The Governors of Missouri and Kansas have declared a "state of emergency" due to weather conditions. Illinois mobilizes its National Guard. An airport shuts down in Dallas, Texas. Interstate 70 is completely closed across mid-Missouri. Places of business that hardly ever close for an entire day -- such as malls and law firms -- are closed. Other businesses that rarely close at all, such as banks, are widely closing early.

And it's on a God-awful day like today, during the middle of the most despicable winter that I can recall, that I'm left to think of the likes of Al Gore and the democrat party and their incessant calls for massive increases in federal regulatory powers and federal bureaucracy under the guise and excuse of far leftist "climate change" legislation (previously called "global warming" by the American left, although not any longer).

How's that Cap'n Trade "climate change" bill working out for ya, democrat party? Since everyone's at home paying no attention to anything but the weather today, it might be a perfect time for Pigsnout Waxman to deliver to Harry Reid hundreds of pages of new amendments to the bill, and then try to jam it through the Senate when no one's looking. "Never let a good crisis [here a terrible blizzard] go to waste," no? I still recall when you guys rammed the health care monstrosity through the Senate on a snowy Christmas Eve in 2009. Can we get a redux with the Cap'n Trade?

Oh, but wait! None of those maneuvers will work. Not any longer. I forgot this is 2011 -- not 2009 or 2010. Well, it was just a thought. Damn pesky democracy, elections and ignorant populace. Now excuse me while I go shovel snow for the third time already today.

2/2/2011 Update: Sure enough today, Al Gore is actually trying to blame this blizzard on global warming! (http://blog.algore.com/2011/02/an_answer_for_bill.html) Fortunately for the world, the masseuse-loving (allegedly), Internet-inventing divorcee Gore could not more irrelevant these days. And while he may not be taken seriously any longer, he does work for a good laugh quite often.

http://www.kansascity.com/2011/02/01/2624165/another-winter-storm-arrives-in.html
http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/article_6340e01f-16f6-55c9-b739-7f07c33e37a7.html
http://www.weather.com/outlook/weather-news/news/articles/storm-impacts-midwest-february_2011-02-01
http://dailyherald.com/article/20110130/news/701309913/

Hey Porn Babe – Can You Babysit My Kids at My Sex Palace?

As Charlie Sheen enters rehab again this week, startling new details are beginning to emerge concerning the endless wild-ass bender that this dude had been on over the past six months. From RadarOnline and the New York Post (link at bottom):

-The 45-year-old "horndog actor" reportedly spent over $500,000 on hookers, booze and blow over the last half-year!

-A friend says that Sheen " 'consumed mountains of cocaine and other drugs' as he partied uncontrollably" during that period, although his preference was "to smoke cocaine."

-Sheen's "nightly habit" would be to spend tens of thousands of dollars on "drugs and two girls," whom "he would typically pay $5,000 to $10,000 for the night."

-The endless bender finally hit a brick wall with the now-infamous 36-hour party last week involving "sex, drugs and booze," a "briefcase full of cocaine," 22-year-old porn star Kacey Jordan (pictured above), and a "bevy of other women."

-Kacey says that Sheen offered her five grand to attend the party, but that he later wrote her a check for 30 grand. [He must have found her to be a better-than-expected conversationalist].

-Kacey also says that "Sheen asked if she could babysit his children at a mansion he was setting up to be his sex palace." [I assume a babysitter would be necessary at the "sex palace" for when Sheen would need to leave the grounds to make a coke run. BTW: Asking a porn star to a sex palace to babysit? Wouldn’t that be like asking a janitor to a $hithouse to do a song and dance routine?]

-Says Kacey: "He’s like, 'Can you babysit? I need a girl I can rely on to babysit,' you know?" [Since who could possibly be a more reliable person with whom to entrust your kids than a pornographic priestess?! Goo Goo Ga Joob!]

-Apparently Sheen's crazy antics were eventually a bit too much even for porn star Kacey, since she took off before last week's party was even over. But that didn't stop Sheen. Kacey says that when she left, "he was naked in his bed and still smoking cocaine from the pipe, hours before he was rushed to the hospital."

-Kacey's ultimate assessment? "I've never seen someone so self-destructive and able to take in so much at once," she told ABC News.

-But it ain't just self-destruction we're talkin' about: Sheen's hit show "Two and a Half Men" is on hiatus while Sheen's in rehab, and The Hollywood Reporter says this week that CBS "could lose as much as $250 million" in syndication revenue and "millions more in lost ad revenue."

So nevermind the 500 grand that Sheen "blew." I think the cost to CBS may just make Sheen's six-month shindig truly the most expensive bender in the history of the civilized world.

http://www.newyorkpost.com/p/news/national/actor_charlie_sheen_blew_past_hookers_PA65YQlfyVQ3A4GaPIOIdO

"While Cairo Burns, Obama Parties"

From Keith Koffler’s "White Dossier" blog over the weekend (links at bottom):

"The Washington A-List was out in force Saturday night at the farewell party for senior adviser David Axelrod, with a roster of guests featuring Cabinet secretaries, big shot journos and – President Obama. As revolution threatened to sweep Egypt and possibly other allies – with the horrifying prospect of Islamism replacing reliable friends – the president was on view partying with the IN crowd."

Koffler also notes that the First Lady did not attend, meaning that at least "maybe she was monitoring the situation in Egypt."

Not that Egypt should take up all of Obama's attention or anything. Just a little damn pesky revolution that could replace a pro-American regime with a decidedly anti-American one right in the heart of the Middle East and a stone’s throw away from Israel.

As Obama and his administration might say: Never let a good crisis go to waste, and certainly never let one get in the way of a good party. Maybe today he can get in a good round of golf.

http://www.whitehousedossier.com/2011/01/30/cairo-burns-obama-parties/

http://nation.foxnews.com/barack-obama/2011/01/30/egypt-burnsobama-parties-watches-b-ball

"Hello, Police? My Partner Won’t Have Sex with Me!"

That was the crazy emergency call to police made by an Australian woman whose "old man" refused to have sex with her! (Link to full story at bottom). No word yet whether she was in a McDonald’s drive-thru at the time.

Apparently this deranged call occurred in 2010, but the 35-year-old Aussie (Alison Louise Vince, a "wildlife carer") just appeared in court late this week to answer criminal charges in connection with her demented call to the cops. Vince pleaded guilty to making a false police report (reportedly, she also tossed into her call a false allegation that her "partner" had assaulted her as well).

"It started over an argument with my old man," said Vince. In an apparent reference to Aussie lingo for being intoxicated, Vince further explained: "I was off my face at the time . . . I can’t remember a thing from that night."

And that's apparently for good reason, as this broad gives her chosen profession – "wildlife carer" – a whole new meaning: Vince said she "was drunk, on prescription medication and had taken amphetamines" when she made her maniacal call to the fuzz. Wildlife, indeed.

Finally, there's also no word whether Vince will be making her future phone calls from inside the hoosegow. Not that she would have any use for a phone there: I can't see the nice folks inside the joint refusing her like the "old man" did, can you?

http://www.news.com.au/national/hello-police-my-partner-wont-have-sex-with-me/story-e6frfkvr-1225996269428

She Says They Partied All Night w/ a "Briefcase Full of Cocaine" and a "Bevy of Women"! Meet Charlie Sheen’s Latest Porn Star Girlfriend (Allegedly)…

This time her name is Kacey Jordan (pictures above and on left). At age 22, she's a Texas girl (with a subtle Lady Gaga-thing going) who's less than half Charlie Sheen's age – literally (he's 45).

Kacey's told TMZ that prior to Sheen's hospitalization this week for a stomach hernia (and his entry into rehab this weekend), the "Two and a Half Men" star "partied all night" with her, a "briefcase full of cocaine" and a "bevy of other women" (first two links at bottom).

According to Kacey’s "blow-by-blow account," this marathon porn-and-cokefest went on for some 36 hours! Two words: BEN-DER.

But the festivities reportedly came crashing to an abrupt end when Sheen started complaining of severe abdominal pains and had to be rushed to the ER at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in LA. The 911 call came at 6:30 a.m. This weekend Sheen is in rehab and his TV show is on hiatus.

Recently in this space, I profiled one of Sheen's other porn babes – the 23-year-old Bree Olson (third link at bottom). Bree and Kacey have starred in at least one porn flick together, although on the whole Bree has been a much busier pornstress over her short career (about one porno per week, in contrast to Kacey's one per month).

But according to IMDb (final link at bottom), Kacey's porn "filmography" is nothing to sleaze at. All in all, Kacey’s "racked up" nearly three dozen porn titles in less than four years.

From among her titles that are repeatable in a family blog like this one, here's an alphabetical list of 10 of Kacey's top titles (and no, I am not personally familiar with any of them):

1. Barely 18 38 (co-starring Kelly Skyline & Mickey Butders). [I asked around, and this one is reportedly better than the first 20 sequels, but still doesn’t stack up to 24, 29, 33 & 36].

2. The Chloroform Solution to Knotty Problem! (co-starring Diana Doll & Sandy Sweet).

3. Don’t Let Daddy Know 4 (co-starring Mark Wood).

4. Double Vision 2 (co-starring Erik Everhard).

5. It’s a Mommy Thing! 3 (co-starring Beverly Hills)

6. Naughty Book Worms 11 (co-starring Alexis Texas)

7. Not the Bradys XXX 2: Marcia, Marcia, Marcia! (Kacey plays "Cindy Brady," which is so wrong). [The Beastie Boys' old lyric about "Sam the Butcher bringing Alice the meat" apparently plays out in this film, as legendary porn actor Ron Jeremy (pictured in third photo above) is credited with playing the role of "Sam the Butcher."]

8. She’s Half My Age 4 (co-starring Joe Blow & Mike Hash). [This film would have been perfect for Sheen himself to star in, but apparently the casting nod went to the more-seasoned porn performers, Blow & Hash.]

9. 69 Bree Street (co-starring the aforementioned Sheen porn babe, Bree Olson).

10. They Tied Me Topless (the all-lady cast includes co-stars Jana Cova, Karlie Montana & Maya Gates).

BTW, I have a friend who has misplaced his copies of Barely 18 22, Barely 18 35 and Naughty Book Worms 9. I you happen to be looking to unload any of those titles, shoot me a line (and I ain’t talkin’ from a briefcase a’ blow).

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-20029884-504083.html?tag=cbsnewsSectionContent.6
http://www.tmz.com/2011/01/27/charlie-sheen-hospitalized-porn-star-kacey-jordan-video-account-recap-party-cocaine-blow-xxx/
http://independentrage.blogspot.com/2011/01/jeezal-peezal-charlie-sheens-new.html
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2849813/maindetails